Video streaming has evolved from linear synchronous delivery methods (e.g., RTSP and RTP) to non-linear file delivery methods (e.g., RTMP and HTTP). This transition has disrupted the traditional business models for such applications as ad-insertion, access control, and quality of service monitoring. New delivery methods, such as progressive-download and adaptive bit rate usage have created an environment where the state of the client is decoupled from the content origin by means of content distribution servers. The client may asynchronously request the content from the distribution servers which may mitigate the centralized control of ad-insertion and quality of service. In addition, the access control elements may be entrusted to the clients such that they may obtain, decrypt, and decode the content on the distributed servers.